Try
by a sorceress girl
Summary: [Post Jurassic World. OOC. OC-Centric. OC/Owen mentions. Angst. Language.] Dr. Ian Malcolm loved kids; he had three of his own. After the containment issue at Jurassic World, he reflects on his less than positive relationship with one of them.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** heeyyy... so. admittedly this whole story is just a big giant self-insertion fantasy and deals with DADDY ISSUES. this also sort of ignores "the lost world" and "jurassic park 3", i'm sorry. i admittedly have a lot of trouble writing ian and owen, so also a warning for that.

* * *

If Ian knew that that argument would have possibly been the last conversation he had with his daughter, he would have kept his mouth shut. Well, he would have tried to.

 _Try_.

He hated how that was the one thing he didn't do with his eldest daughter—the one that he was aware of anyway. He never tried. He couldn't imagine why J.T tried for so long; putting up with awkward two week long visits twice a year, birthday calls that just turned into ten minutes of silence after greetings were exchanged, even more awkward two-weeks-after-Christmas gift exchanges where he would just buy her love.

It was a mystery why she wanted to be in his life after The Incident, something she wouldn't have experienced if it wasn't for him. It was his fault. That's why her mother officially cut off all contact with him. If he had just tried harder back then... A little eight year old girl wouldn't have had to watch her father be thrown about like a cheap rag-doll. She wouldn't have had to experience a monster that would threaten her life, give her nightmares for years from what little J.T had told him—another thing that his ex-wife had yelled at him about.

If Ian didn't want to try before what had happened at Isla Nublar... He definitely didn't want to afterwards.

She kept trying even when her mother forbade him from seeing or calling her. Sneaking phone calls to him while her mother was out –though she must have found out about them, thanks to the long distance charges—or when she was at a relative's house. Having her grandmother—he was honestly surprised that Jen let J.T see _his_ mother—to his house for a weekend during their visits. Eventually that had stopped and she would buy a bus ticket to Texas and call him from a bus station payphone at 3 in the morning, telling him to pick her up. She was fifteen then.

His daughter tried for eleven years. He repaid her with silence and hastily bought gifts that she picked out herself—she'd always decline at first, he'd have to insist three times that it was fine—because he couldn't talk to her. Get to know her beyond stilted conversations about school and how her mother was doing.

 _Life, uh, finds a way._

It found a way to turn an already failing parent-child relationship into _a giant pile of shit_. No wonder why she gave up at sixteen. It was an accident, he must have been out then, not that it was any excuse. He had to hear about it from his mother over the phone.

" _She tried to go see you last Christmas, Ian. You didn't pick up the phone she said... She also said she took a cab to your house, you didn't answer. She called me crying, you know. She said she was tired of trying with you. I'm sorry, Ian. I tried to talk to her... She wouldn't have it. I'm so sorry._ "

If he just _tried_...

* * *

It was like every other visit.

Silent. Discomfort hanging in the atmosphere—awkwardness so dense that you couldn't take a knife to it without the blade snapping in half. The only sounds you could hear were the house settling and the T.V playing some action movie that neither of them particularly cared for in the slightest.

The only thing that was different was that she wasn't a child anymore; not even a teenage girl that managed to sneak out of her mother's house to see him. J.T was twenty-five now, eight or so years had passed since he last heard from her.

Malcolm glanced at his daughter; her hazel eyes glazed over with disinterest, her tawny brown skin painted with dark shadows from the harsh blue light of the television. She looked nothing like him, the only features of his that showed were light-almost faded eyebrows and the curls in her black hair—it wasn't fair to say she had got that color from him, since her mother also had jet black hair.

J.T looked so much like her mother.

The sounds of a commercial broke his reverie.

" _Welcome to Jurassic World..._ "

His lips pressed into a hard line and his hand gripped the arm rest of the couch. Muscles in his body tensing up as a dull ache appeared in his leg. Dark eyes watching as clips of happy families gazing with awe at living dinosaurs and rides and the science center play in front of him.

" _Come join us for our fifth year anniversary..._ "

"I can't believe they did that shit again—that they went through with it." Those were the first words he had said to since greeting her at the door (" _Sorry I just showed up, can I come in?_ " "N _o, it's alright. Come in._ " " _Thank you._ " " _How have you been?_ " " _I've been okay, but you?_ "). Heat flared up in his system as his nails scraped against the faded leather. "As if what happened back then didn't happen. Throw money at us to shut us up."

"..."

Ian glanced at J.T again, who stared back at him with tired eyes. Her bottom lip twitching slightly and her fingers toying with the hem of her shirt.

"...This is kind of... Why I wanted to see you." The young woman said, hazel eyes flickering from the screen to her father. "I have a new job now and..."

" _You can't be serious, J.T._ "

"You didn't let me—"

"Please don't tell me you're working _there_. At that place of all places. What are you even doing there?! What happened to you writing novels or that radiology thing, huh?"

"Dad..."

He grabbed her upper arms, unaware of how tightly he was hold onto her. "Why. Don't you remember what happened then? How you had nightmares for weeks— _years_? For Gods sake, Jen wouldn't even let me talk to you after that—"

"Like you ever fucking talked to me before then." She spat, her words going right for his jugular and slicing it open. Her hands balled themselves into tight fists, so tight that they shook in her lap. "You forgot I was even visiting you that week and you took me with you because you couldn't find someone to take me off your hands. Before all that shit happened, you were eyeballing—whatever that's not important. Y-you didn't bother talking to me before any of that! Why bother getting married five-hundred-fucking times and having five billion kids if you didn't get it right the first three or four times! I kept thinking, 'Did I do something wrong? Is that why he never cared? How long do I have to try'..."

She was out of her seat now and tearing herself out of his grip; hot wet tears dripping down her beet red face, her jaw clenching tightly together and the sound of her teeth grinding together reminding the man of nails on a chalkboard.

He followed immediately. Anger bursting inside of him as if someone lit a firework inside his chest.

" **J.T.** Did you really think I never cared about you—if I didn't, would I have tried to save _you_ and Hammond's grandkids—"

" _ **SHUTUPLETMETALK**_. I thought 'Oh, maybe he'd understand if I explained. Oh, he went through the same thing. It's been over fifteen years...It'd be okay.' Thinking maybe you were done pitying yourself like you did throughout my childhood and maybethatwecouldusethistotrytobefatherandfuckingdaughterforonceinourlives—"

"How. How. How would this... bring us together, huh?"

She froze.

"...It'd... I'd be facing all that head on. M-Maybe you'd see how well I-I was doing and... _Ahfuck!_ I was tired of all that shit! Tired of thinking I was fucking over it only to have nightmares about it out of nowhere... Having flashbacks after weeks or months of nothing..." She avoided looking at him now, her shaky hands rubbed where he had grabbed her earlier.

He grit his teeth, running a hand through his greying hair. "Don't you think I'm tired of all that too? Don't you think I'm sick of thinking about what could've happened to you if I didn't..." His eyes were stinging and his voice was hoarse. _Shit_.

"...I'm a fucking idiot. I shouldn't have bothered coming to you about this. Wasting your time like usual. Sorry. Sorry. _Sorry_." She bit back sobs as she walked to the front door which she slammed behind her.

Ian stood there; a maelstrom of emotions swarming inside of his body and drowning him.

 _Life, uh, finds a way._

Jurassic World's _containment issue_ was all that was on the news for weeks. Some genetic hybrid—nice to know that those scientists had gotten more in character for playing God—had escaped and caused a breach in the aviary for pterosaurs. Hundreds injured; some in critical condition if they didn't die later on from their injuries. Many had died during the attacks—some were lucky to die immediately rather than suffer.

 _Boy, did Ian hate being right all the time._

His stomach churned as his mind wandered off in the direction of J.T—was she still working there while this was going on? Was she safe? Was she hurt?

Ice water coursed through his veins at the thought of his child in that chaos, being mauled by those things, being...

He dashed to his computer, opening up Facebook and looking up his first ex-wife's name since J.T had probably blocked him. There was probably a better way to go about this, but he couldn't think of another way.

There, a picture—selfie or whatever they were called—of grey haired Jen sitting next to a battered J.T in a hospital bed was posted five days ago. Bruises and scrapes peeked out under the bandage wrapped around her head; her hazel eyes appearing cloudy and tired, most likely from being doped out of her mind on pain medication.

" _My little girl_ J.T Malcolm _has seen better days. But doctors say she should be fine to transfer to a U.S hospital soon! Thank you all for keeping her in your prayers!_ "

His heart sank.

He knew that it was a mistake opening another park. He knew that J.T choosing to work there was the worst thing she could have ever done. But... A small part of him had hoped that there wouldn't be something like this even if he knew from the beginning twenty-two years ago that it would end in disaster. A part of him hoped for the best for her sake.

Ian wished that Jurassic World didn't turn out as bad—even worse than the dry run two decades ago. Even if it meant J.T never seeing him again after that fight five years ago, he wanted her to be safe and unharmed.

Suddenly, his phone rang and he felt tempted to just... Let it ring, let it go to voice mail. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. If he did, he wasn't sure how he'd be able to form a semi-coherent sentence. The phone had stopped ringing before a louder beep echoed through the room.

" _Hey, Ian. It's Amelie..._ "

The man blinked, wondering why they were calling now of all times.

" _I dunno if you've heard from someone else but, J.T got hurt at that new park..._ "

How did they know that? Why would they know that? Did J.T keep in contact with them and not him?

He'd be lying if he said that that didn't make him upset—if not fully piss him off—just a bit. But, it wasn't like it was Amelie's fault. He just wished his kin wasn't so petty—what was he doing, thinking like this? His daughter was in the hospital and here he was...

" _She's been in Costa Rica at some hospital for a bit, but she came into the States today. Some hospital in San Antonio... University Hospital. Yeah. If you wanna go see her, then maybe you should. I'll see you around._ "

Dial tone.

Ian sat in his chair for a while. Contemplating.

He wanted to see her.

But would she want to see him?

Jen would be there too, wouldn't she? Knowing how emotional and quick tempered she was, he would have to expect a pretty bad reaction to seeing his face after twenty-two years. Of course, his daughter was more important than being screamed at by an ex-wife—something that he was kind of used to at the age of sixty-two, and not just from Jen either. Oh no, his son's mother wasn't fond of him either; Kelly's mother however was probably the one he was the most... tolerable to.

It was just a matter of intruding where he clearly wouldn't be wanted and to make things worse between his eldest. He had an idea of how chaotic that could be, he didn't even have to apply his specialization to it. It was like sticking your dick into that acid spitting dinosaur's mouth and getting your dick melted off as a result—to even relate that to "chaos theory" was a fucking insult. You knew what you were getting into. Anyone could predict that without equations.

Ian snorted, where the hell did that thought come from? Whatever.

His long fingers drummed on the arm rest of the computer chair; dark eyes continuing to stare at the picture of his injured daughter. A sigh escaped him before clicking out of the window, he had reached a decision. He was going to see her. He had to at least try with her, even if it was probably way too late at this point.

He was going to see his baby girl.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** i'm sorry :') more warnings for melodrama and ooc.

* * *

"Hi, I'm here, uh, here to visit Miss. J.T Malcolm."

The nurse blinked slowly before shuffling a few papers on the desk, occasionally stealing glances at the older man. A small sigh escaped her once she apparently found the right one, "Can I ask who you are, sir?"

"Dr... Dr. Ian Malcolm, her father." He felt a little surprised that he didn't stumble over his words too much, considering the circumstances. A smile spread on his face as the nurse squinted at him—he wasn't too sure if it was out of recognition or disbelief. If it was the former, then he'd get that; Jen's boyfriend or whatever had probably come to visit.

"You wrote God Creates Dinosaurs, right? My partner was reading it the other day..." The nurse gave him a small smile, which he returned before giving a nod. "Good, I didn't mix you up with anyone else... Ah, 415; she'd be down that hallway, third door on the left. There's a few people seeing her right now, she isn't sharing a room with someone right now but you may have to wait a while to see her."

"Thank you, ma'am." He said, his voice trailing off as he began preparing himself emotionally for a potential scene once again. He should have called first, to see if it was alright and to arrange a time. It had slipped his mind. Whatever, he was here now.

Taking a deep breath, he strolled away from the nurses' desk and towards the hospital room. His breath catching in his throat at the sign that hung beside the open door;

 **415  
J.T Malcolm**

Ian's heart pounded in his chest as he stood in that spot, right beside the door; feet feeling as if they had boulders tied to them. He was here, was it too late for him to turn back—no, he had to do this, he had gotten this far. His stomach churned violently as fear trickled through his veins—was he scared of Jen or the very likely scenario of J.T telling him to leave?

He peered into the room, feet still glued to the floor, a small sigh escaping him when he realized he could still see his daughter from this angle.

She was asleep, looking peaceful and serene—possibly angelic, though all of his children were angels to him regardless of age or what they were doing. The bandage wrapped around J.T's head was a poor choice of a halo, as it hid how the sun would reflect off of her hair. But this wasn't the time for poorly worded metaphors and attempts at purple prose, there never really was a time for that.

"So I'll see you back at the house, Jen?"

"Yeah, that boy J.T likes is coming by today... I wouldn't want to walk in on _that_ after a smoke break."

He held his breath at the sound of that all too familiar alto breaking off into a breathy laughter that was the opposite of his obnoxious cachinnation. _Shit._

A man stepped out of the hospital room, almost running into Ian on the way out. He muttered a quick apology before continuing on with leaving; Jen's boyfriend didn't recognize him, which the mathematician was thankful for. It meant less bullshit to deal with.

Collecting himself, Ian took a step into the room and was met with the coldest pair of hazel eyes he'd come across. The years must have weakened his immunity against that stink eye of his ex-wife's, since he felt affected by it even now.

" _Ian_."

"Hello, Jane."

Jen huffed, looking away from Ian and muttering something under her breath. Her jaw clenched and her hands shook as they gripped onto the arm rests of the vomit coloured chair she sat in. Slowly, she rose to her feet, still trembling hands patting her sides for something—probably her cigarettes—before giving up.

"Do you want me to leave?" He finally asked, trying to avoid the glower of his ex-wife. "I can see her when you're not here—"

"Why are you even here?" She spat, now suddenly in front of him and her index finger jabbing him in the middle of his sternum. She had to crane her neck back far to be able to stare right up at him due to him towering over her.

"She is _my_ daughter too, Jen." Ian shot back, his volume slightly increasing as a white hot flash exploded inside his chest. "Whether you like it or not, J.T is my kid too."

She let out a laugh at that, taking another step and forcing Ian to back up. "You sure have a fuckin' way of showing that.. How often have you used that fuckin' line, has it ever worked?"

With every word, her hushed words grew in volume and she stepped forward, forcing him to step back until he was out of the hospital room. Pain built up to a crescendo in his chest from her constant jabbing and his heart ached from her words—images of similar conversations with his first wife flickering in his mind's eye.

"Why would you come here? How did you know she was even here? What if she doesn't want to see you—why would she?"

The sounds of an orderly walking up to the two and muttering of nurses became more apparent as Jen stared up at him with a smug smirk on her lips. A dull thud from inside the room and clattering of metal against beige travertine was quickly followed by a loud voice cursing out.

" _ **OH, FUCK OFF**_."

The orderly that was originally approaching the two quickly moved past them and into the room. Ian and Jen immediately following after them and were greeted with the sight of J.T being helped back into bed. A nurse pushed past them and rushed to the side of his patient.

"Are you alright? Do you feel any more pain—" The nurse said, his voice soft and gentle as he pressed a hand to her hip.

"I have a broken fucking pelvis and I fell right fucking on it. I FEEL GREAT." She hissed, blinking back tears that still managed to fall down her face. "I-I'm sorry... C-canIpleasegetsomething...?"

The nurse nodded and walked out the room, possibly to get morphine or at least left to pretend he was getting medication. The orderly quickly followed after him, seeing that his work was done for now. The three of them were left alone in the room, again.

"Are you two going to start reenact my fourteenth birthday again or do I have to be asleep or in another room again?"

Jen whipped her head around, now throwing that intense glare at J.T, who was still trying to fight the tears that came from her fall earlier. "You—"

"Mom, can you like, fuck off for a while, I'm sorry."

You could probably hear the steam shooting out of Jen's ears at that, if not see it from how red her face was.

Ian stood there, throwing his hands up and going to leave the room. Obviously, he caused a lot of trouble just from being here and didn't want to cause more. And he didn't want to be here for his daughter and ex-wife's screaming match and to see the latter being dragged out by orderlies.

"No. Daddy."

He froze.

"Stay here, please." J.T said, voice wavering as she shot an apologetic look at her mother. "I... I, um, wanna talk to you... A-alone."

A heavy sigh came from Jen, signalling she had given up for now—and was probably going to regret her actions today later on. Swiftly, she grabbed her coat and purse from the chair she sat on earlier and moved towards the hospital bed. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"'Kay, I-I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. See you..." Jen whispered before walking out, but stopped beside Ian for a moment. "...I usually come around noon-to-three 'o' clock."

He let out a soft laugh, "I'll keep that in mind."

She smiled, giving a small nod before leaving the room.

The sound of a door shutting behind her echoed in the quiet room; the stillness emphasized with the slow yet steady beeps from the heart rate monitor and the crinkling of the bed sheets. Ian coughed, moving towards the chair nearest to the bed.

"...Hi." He said, long fingers loosely entwining with each other.

The woman laughed before wincing at the movements it caused to run through her body. "H-hi... So... Amelie got a hold of you, then? I would've gotten Mom to but... Y'know."

"So you still talk to her?"

J.T nodded, looking away from him and out the window. "Is that okay? I-I mean... I know it's kinda mean, like, talking to Amelie and not you..."

"It's..." He took a slow breath, staring at his shoes while he exhaled. "It's fine. I, uh, know how much you liked spending time with her—like she was a big sister or something like that. I wish you could've talked to me, but I know that I... wasn't the greatest. I really—"

"Daddy," She swallowed thickly before pausing. "I-I'm really sorry."

"What?" Ian blinked, raising his head to look at her now. "Wh-what do you have to be sorry for? I should've listened to you then, I should've been patient and heard you out. I should have just. Tried harder with you—and Kelly and Mord—" He was cut off once again, this time by J.T reaching out for his hand. He moved in closer and held her hand, her stubby fingers entwining with his longer, spidery ones.

"Yeah, you weren't... The greatest dad, like you said but... I wasn't... I wasn't the really fair either, I mean, you can't read minds? And I wasn't trying—"

"Ohhhhh... My girl, you were trying so hard for so long." The man murmured, running a thumb over the back of his daughter's hand. A faint smile appearing on his lips as she gripped onto him tighter, "You, ah, have the patience of a saint. I-I, uh, probably would've given up sooner if I was in your position."

"Ishouldn'thavegivenuponyouatallthough?" She squeaked, grip increasing on his hand as her breathing got a bit heavier and erratic. "K-Kelly... She told you 'n' all that... about how she was feeling? She was more fair, she didn't... She didn't try t-to play mind games with you or trytomakeyoureadhermind."

J.T was trembling, her free hand—ignoring all the IV needles attached to it—rubbing her wet eyes. Tears ran down her face, renewing the dried up trails from earlier, as small hiccups escaped her and agitated her pelvis more from the bouncing. "Ahhh, I'm such a baby..."

"My girl, please don't... don't ah, compare yourself to Kelly. You, you did what you thought was best for you. She wasn't very happy with me either, but we made process... I-I'm sure we can too. If you want to."

She let out a laugh, contrasting heavily against the constant stream of tears that wouldn't go away no matter how many times she tried to wipe them away. "I. I don't think I'd be talking to you if... y-you know. If I didn't wanna talk to you, I, ah, woulda had Mom keep chewing you out 'n' get you thrown out... S-sorry about that, ah..."

He shook his head, thumb continuing to rub slow circles on her hand as he chuckled. "Stop apologizing, baby girl."

"I... I know that I'm all..." She huffed, motioning up and down her body with her free hand. Another laugh. "But. Please stop making excuses for me. I... I was really immature—I still am really, but. We, um, were both... We both could've been better, I think. I dunno. I definitely should've... uh, not went to that park though, you were..."

"J.T, don't start."

"No. Like. You were absolutely right, what the fuck was I thinking going to work there. Especially after..."

Ian rolled his eyes, taking her hand with both hands now and shaking them. "You don't have to talk about that. Of course, I'm not happy that you went there and I knew, uh, that things would go to shit but I'm not going to go 'I told you so' about it. It's not _your_ fault that _you_ got hurt. It's their fault. They didn't learn from back then and..." He sighed heavily. "Even after everything we—and everyone else, went through and after I went public about it. They went through with it and they didn't fix anything."

The air was mostly silent again; the muffled sounds of the hospital staff and announcements overhead could be heard, mingling with the slow beeps of the heart rate monitor and the ticking of the clock.

Ian held his breath, unsure if the silence was awkward like all the other times or it had just become slightly more comfortable. At least there wasn't a bad action movie on the hospital TV like when she would visit; no hokey dialogue or unnecessary sex scenes to make things even more uncomfortable.

The door opened, J.T jumping a little at the sight of whoever was there. A heavy dusting of reddish-pink appeared on her features and the slow steady beeps from the monitor increased in speed. Ian blinked as he saw how quickly she changed and turned towards the door, blinking slowly at the sight.

A tall man in his early-to-mid thirties with a stronger build; tanned skin, light brown hair, hard light coloured eyes and facial hair. Attractive in the strong manly but actually a huge puppy underneath way.

Ian's gaze moved up and down the younger man's frame to his daughter, who looked like she you could fry an egg on her flushed skin. A grin snuck it's way onto Ian's face as he let go of his daughter's shaking hand.

"Oh, is this a bad time?" The man asked, his eyes appearing more green as he hesitantly took a step back towards the door. "I can come back in a bit—how long has it been since you ate? I can grab something."

J.T let out a high pitched yet muffled whisper-scream before shutting her eyes. "Aaaaahhhhh youdon' ."

Ian raised an eyebrow at his daughter before looking at _Mr. Grady_ , who looked a little irritated yet unsurprised at this.

"It's fine, look. I'll get you a McChicken or something—do you want anything, sir?" He asked, looking directly at Ian; his gaze pulling him into those swirling blue-green pools.

"No, uh. I'm fine, thank you, Mr. Grady."

The man sighed, closing his eyes as he chuckled before softly muttering something to himself. "I'll be back later then, eat the food the hospital gives you though if they come before I'm back though." He said with a wave while backing out.

"So, uh, that's your type." Ian said once the door shut, long fingers drumming on his knee. "Ohhhh... _I, ah, approve._ "

"Ohhhh my God, Dad, don't..." J.T's hands slowly placed themselves onto her face as her body slumped further down the bed. A soft whimper escaping her as she tried to wriggle back upwards, this movement probably hurting more than when she moved downwards. " _Fuuuuuuck_."

"Do you need me to call a nurse for you, my girl?"

"No. No. It's good..."

" _Almost as, uh, good as Mr. Grady must be._ "

" **GET OUT.** "

He laughed, lilting his head back and clapping his hands once. "I can tell Mr. Grady to come back in here on my way out, if you really want."

Another muffled whisper-scream.

He took the hand without IV needles into his once again, patting the woman's hand and shushing her. "I'll stop, I'll stop. Tell me about him though, I don't want a... How did that song go? Scrub? With my girl."

"Daddy, it's... ah, little too late to be doing the overprotective dad thing, isn't it...?" She breathed, voice trailing off near the end.

It fell silent between them once again, this time definitely as awkward as the past years between them. Ian breathed in deeply, fingers continuing to trace circles on the other's hand as she stared out the window.

"That was really mean, I... I'm sorry."

"No, you were right." He clicked his tongue.

J.T looked at him, smiling softly before looking down at their hands. "...I still think it was still... Uncalled for, um. But, if you really do want to know about him..."

"I'm listening."

"He's dating someone. A-and it's not me." She stammered, sounding more than disappointed at this. "But, um, his name is Owen Grady; he showed up at the park after I did, I think. He used to be in the Navy or something, and he worked with...theraptors..."

Ian froze.

"Raptors—I'm sure Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler would be less than ecstatic to hear about that. Muldoon probably cursed the park from beyond the grave 'cause of that. But go on, I wanna know everything before kicking his ass for not dating my daughter."

She snorted. "Good luck with that. I dunno... I just. Missed my chance, that's all. And ask him his life story if you want to know so bad... Um..." Her tone was light and noncommittal, punctuating her last sentence with a soft yet distant laugh before trailing off.

"Hm?"

"...Are we... going to be okay now?" J.T asked, hazel eyes staring right at him.

Ian shrugged, leaning in to press a kiss on his daughter's hand. "As long as we keep trying, I'm sure we will."

By the end of visiting hours, J.T had been knocked out by the pain medication that was finally given to her hours after she had asked for it. It was kind of funny when it kicked in; similar to those videos of people coming back from the dentist, though maybe not as extreme.

She was singing Disney songs. Horribly. She babbled about her old co-workers—a woman named Sloane in particular who was apparently "a miserable soap stealing bitch that no one ever liked and that's why they had to do team working exercises". Then she was out, and soon he and that Owen guy were thrown out.

Ian Malcolm stood outside in the parking lot, wondering if he was far enough from the entrance to have a cigarette. Brown eyes stared at the hospital that was several yards away from the concrete jungle of a parkade he was in. It was probably fine.

Deft fingers pulled out his cigarettes and placed one between his lips, his other hand looking for his lighter in the pockets of his black leather jacket. He leaned against his car once his lighter was finally found and used; the only sources of light were lights on the parkade columns that casted long dark shadows and the faint orange light of his cigarette ember. He breathed in, the end growing brighter before he blew out, a swirling cloud of smoke hanging in the surprisingly humid air.

He let out a sigh as he watched other people get into their cars and leave and a few coming in for what he assumed to be their shift. The sight of Owen walking towards him—or at least in his general area—had surprised the older man. He thought that Owen had left before him.

The younger man stopped by Ian's vehicle before muttering to himself again.

"What's wrong? Lose where you were?"

Owen inhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair before turning towards Ian. "Looks like it, happens every time I come here."

"How often do you, uh, come by here?"

There was a pause.

"Everyday—Can I borrow a light? I haven't had one since I came back." He said, pulling out his own cigarette from a vest pocket.

Ian nodded, once again pulling out his lighter—quicker this time—and held out the flame for the other. Owen leant in close, blocking out any possible wind with his hand, to light it up. It was then the older man realized that he was a few inches taller than the other.

"So, you deal with _that_ everyday?"

"What? The morphine thing? Yeah, more or less. Today was one of the better times, I think. Kind of cute though."

Ian chuckled before taking another long drag. "So you think she's cute?"

"Ah, I'm not going to do anything to her, Dr. Malcolm. We're just friends and I'm seeing someone else, don't have to worry."

He laughed, dropping the cigarette butt to the ground and stamping it out. "Shame you're already with someone, Mr. Grady."

The younger man flushed, turning away from Ian slightly and taking a long drag of his own. He stepped out of the way of the black car once he heard the car door open and shut. "I dunno, I'm not used to a girl's father encouraging me to date his daughter."

"Who said anything about dating my _daughter_?" Ian said with a wink as his vehicle pulled out and began to drive away. " _See you tomorrow, Mr. Grady._ "

Owen Grady stood there in the almost empty parking lot in disbelief.


End file.
